Flying a drone around Downtown Toronto

Over the summer, I flew my DJI Phantom 3 around Downtown Toronto and shot some unusual angles of the city. I thought I’d gather a few of them in an article.

Flying a drone is definitely a great experience. It offers fantastic shooting opportunities, but the legal side is very complicated in Canada, especially for commercial use. This is why I’m re-assessing my options for next year, I am not sure how I can include a drone in my commercial workflow.

The Delta Toronto Hotel

The Delta hotel is one of my favorite recent buildings in Toronto. It’s not the tallest or the craziest building, but its slenderness and design definitely make it stand out in the area. Shooting it from half way up offered some nice angles, without going for a bird’s eye view.

Delta Toronto Aerial | Roundhouse Park – Toronto, ON

Delta Toronto Aerial | Roundhouse Park – Toronto, ON

The East Side

Toronto’s East side hasn’t seen the same skyscraper growth as the West side, so I haven’t shot it as much. I did do a short flight on that side, to capture new angles and because of the curved L Tower that is almost complete. This flight happened on a day when the magnetic activity from the sun was extremely high (on that night, you could see northern lights in the U.S.) and at some point, most controls stopped working. Fortunately, I was still able to bring it back safely. A couple of days later, the magnetic activity died down and everything went back to normal.

L Tower Aerial | Berczy Park – Toronto, ON

Concrete Concentration | Berczy Park – Toronto, ON

River City

River City is a new condominium development in the East end of downtown. The second building is almost complete and there will be a third building on the left of the highway.

River City 1&2 – Aerial View | River City – Toronto, ON

River City 1&2 – Aerial View | River City – Toronto, ON

I hope you enjoy these shots. For now, I’m taking a step back from drone photography, but I hope to get back to it in the spring. Stay tuned!

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I am a commercial architecture photographer living in Toronto. When I am not photographing commercial interiors and exteriors for my clients, I like to travel the world to photograph fine art cityscapes and architecture.

2 Comments

Marco MetzSeptember 5, 201711:09 pm

L Tower Aerial | Berczy Park – Toronto, ON is my favorite because its simple, and I cant help looking at it like a beautiful woman from Moss Park or Allen Gardens when relaxing there every summer with friends. I also like newly built mid rise 33 Front East behind gooderham, I also liked architecture since I was baby but didn’t become but will design my own house soon. thnks